Rationale: Knowledge of phonemes is an
important
concept for children to master in order to be better at reading,
writing, and
spelling. Children need to know how to recognize phonemes in relation
to spoken
words as well as in written form. Short vowels are especially important
and
often difficult concepts for students to understand. This lesson will
focus on a=/a/ or the short a phoneme.Students will learn to associated the phoneme
with the written letter a and learn
how the short a phoneme is spoken and practice it by finding the
phoneme in
words.

1. Introduce the
lesson by telling the students that words are like puzzles.We have to put together the puzzle by
learning how our mouth moves to make our words.“Today we are going to work on the mouth move for a=/a/.At first you may need
to look really hard for a, but as we practice,
it will be easier to find.”

2. “Has anyone
ever jumped from a closet or dark place and scared you? What did you do?That’s right you yelled or screamed.It sounds like Aaaaa!Let
me hear you quietly make that sound.Good.Today when we make this sound we will hold our hands on our
cheeks like
on the movie Home Alone.”

3. “Now lets try
the tongue twister on the chart, 'Aunt Ashley asked if alligators can
plant
grass.' Let’s say it three times together as a class.Ready.Good.Now lets put our hands on
our cheeks when we hear a.Great.Now, stretch the a sound when
you hear it.”

4. “Now get out your
pencil and paper.We are going to write
the letter that represents the /a/ sound.
To make uppercase A, you need to first
start at the rooftop, go down the slide to the sidewalk, then down the
slide
the other way, and cross at the fence. For lowercase a, don't start at
the
fence. Start under the fence. Go up and touch the fence, then around
and touch
the sidewalk, around and straight down.I am going to walk around and see that you are writing your a
correctly.If I put a star on your
paper, write it nine more time for practice.When you see the letter a all by itself in a word, that's the
signal to say
/a/."

5. Call on
students randomly to answer the question and tell how they know the
answer. “Do
you hear a in cat or dog? Grass or
tree? Good or bad? Sit or stand? Good.Now take out your a/X cards.If
you hear a in the word, show me the a
side.If you do not, show me the X.Ready.Aunt, Ashley, asked, if, alligators, can, plant, and grass.”

6. Read Pat’s Jam.“This
story is about a rat that goes to the grocery store.What will she buy?We will have to
read and find out.”Read the story again.Have students clap when they hear the
phoneme.After re-reading the story,
write the short a words on the board.

7.For
assessment, pass out the picture page and
help the class name the items on the page.Then tell them to circle the pictures with the short a sound in
the
word.Then they can color the
pictures.